The Blood Gospel - Order of the Sanguines #1

Kids, let’s talk James Rollins.




This guy never quits. His books just keep coming, but never become formulaic. I have no idea how he keeps things fresh, and why I haven’t become bored 8 books into his Sigma Series.



On a new and exciting Rollins’ front, he’s just started up on a new series called The Sanguines Trilogy.

Book One: Blood Gospel.



I tried to verbally review this book as I was reading it. Instead of reviewing, I spoiled. This is going to be a short review, and a good one. If you are a fan of thrilling pop fiction, you have yourself a goldmine here. If you love historical fiction, you have yourself a goldmine here. If you love surprise endings, you have yourself a goldmine here.



Rollins technique of weaving history, current affairs and mystery together in Blood Gospel remind me of Kathy Reichs’ in Cross Bones. It even works in the history of Masada and mysteries that have been left unsolved since early Christianity. Let’s give a bit of an overview of ancient events, which hopefully, will not blow the book.



Masada is an ancient fort located in Southern Israel, containing ruins of buildings erected by Herod the Great (who many recall as the baby killer behind the Slaughter of Innocents in the New Testament). During the First Jewish-Roman War or ‘The Great Revolt’, The Second Jewish Temple was ransacked, thousands of Jews were massacred in Jerusalem, and Romans Vespasian and Titus invaded Galilee. Long story short, Vespasian gets recalled to Rome, crowned Emperor and leaves his son Titus to crush the rebellion. Titus took back Jerusalem, and left the Tenth Legion to defeat any remaining pockets of resistance. The Tenth, plus ancillary troops and captured prisoners, totalling 10,000-15,000 (depending on your historical source) surrounded Masada, looking to break the last stronghold of the Jews. The inhabitants refused to surrender, and after a lengthy siege, the Romans entered the fortress to find that nearly 1000 Jews had committed suicide instead of surrendering to Roman rule, and they had set nearly all the buildings on fire, instead of leaving them for the enemy.



In spite of the fact that Romans were meticulous record keepers, and that the actual siege was recorded by the classical historian Josephus…of the 960 Jews that died at Masada, only 28 bodies have been found.



So what really happened during the siege?



Rollins premise for Blood Gospel is to solve this mystery using an archaeologist, an American soldier, and a priest from the Vatican. Keep an eye out for miracles and famous historical figures as you read!

The Affairs of Others

The Affairs of Others (2013)

Amy Grace Loyd

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2013/08/book-review-the-affairs-of-others-uncovers-the-pain-and-folly-of-being-alone

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2013/08/30/book-review-the-affairs-others-amy-grace-loyd/hBuh8H4gyiQgbraSSHMjtJ/story.html

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20727394,00.html

Teetering between a B+ and A-

I went into this novel with high hopes. I liked the premise – telling a story of one character but really telling the story of many others through the main character. In this case, Celia Cassill, a young widow, is owner and landlady of a brownstone in Brooklyn with a handful of tenants who she actively keeps separate from her own life. Her need for privacy, especially regarding the death of her husband is paramount in her widowhood. And yet, somehow, she finds herself being drawn into the affairs of others – chiefly due to the arrival of a subletting new tenant named Hope.

Recall the famous poem by John Donne, No Man is an Island:

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee. “

Donne’s point being, that humans, as social beings, cannot thrive, or even exist in isolation.

Throughout this story, we find that Celia was once young, happy and lighthearted when in the company of her beloved, but since his death she has lost these characteristics. New acquaintances even point out their surprise that she is in fact, still physically young, for her overly mature and withdrawn nature.

Celia exists on a day to day basis. She had bought the apartment after her husband’s death, involved herself in the restoration and selected her own tenants. After her husband’s illness, she requires complete control in her small corner of the world, which shows when George and Hope approach her to have the apartment sublet during his sabbatical. Most reluctantly, Celia agrees.

Cue the end of Celia’s physical and emotional separation from her tenants and the world at large.

The tidy, quiet, controlled life of the isolated window is slowly transformed into that of one who finds herself in the middle of the affairs of others – the disappearance of one tenant, the possible abusive relationship of another, and fracture of a marriage and resulting unplanned pregnancy of yet another. Instead of maintaining her distance on the sideline as has been her habitual way, Celia is embroiled within these concerns.

While Celia’s own internal monologue is full of prose and interesting flashes of memory, her acquaintances throughout the book are mere caricatures. Case in point, the ridiculous upstairs neighbour or the absent cleaning lady.

Loyd could do much better.